The person that killed the mother cared about cassidy. And now a stunning new twist in the case im lester holt, and this is dateline. Here is Keith Morrison with silent witness. I think i paused for a second and had to take a deep breath. And just the reality of what was going on would sink in. Reporter those who saw the footprints will not forget them. They were tiny and they were bloody. I had to get my composure to finish searching this house to make sure there was nobody else in the house. Reporter it was the third of november, 2006, early afternoon. Deputy scott earp had been dispatched to a neighborhood, enchanted oaks, the outskirts of raleigh, North Carolina. Here for the 911 call from this place, on birchfield drive. I think my sister is dead. Tell me what happened. I have no idea. The caller was Meredith Fisher. She had just discovered on the floor of the master bedroom the savagely beaten body of her elder sister, 29yearold Michelle Young, a woman who in death was about to be famous. Listen to me, maam. Ill tell you what you have to do. You need to calm down so we can help you. You said theres blood everywhere . Listen to me. Is she breathing . I dont think so. Shes cold. Reporter as she spoke, meredith was cradling her 2 1 2yearold niece, cassidy, who crawled out from under the bed clothes on her parents bed, feet from where her mother lay. Cassidys voice chattering to her aunt. Had cassidy witnessed the murder, awakened alone to find this . You just picture a small child Walking Around in this blood and tracking it across the hallway over into the bathroom. Reporter by now, wake county investigators were descending on the house. Having secured the crime scene, earps job was done. But on his way out he saw cassidy again. She was still in her pink pajamas, still in merediths arms. He asked meredith a question. I looked over at the child. I asked her did you clean the child . Her response was no. I thought it was kind of odd because i was expecting her to say yes, i guess. Reporter somebody did . Yeah, somebody did. But who . The same person who murdered the little girls mother . On this november day, all they had were questions. Sergeant Richard Spivey of the Wake County Sheriffs Office probably knows the case better than anyone. I mean, this was just a brutal, vicious beeting. There was a lot of time and Energy Invested into this assault. Reporter why do you say a lot of time and energy . The medical examiner told us there were over 30 blows with some sort of blunt object. Reporter so detectives started investigating the victim. And everyone else around her. Michelle young was born and raised on long island, new york. She was smiling all the time. And she was the life of the party. Reporter stacia grossman knew her from childhood. She didnt like being the center of attention, but liked creating a great atmosphere to have a great time. Reporter michelle was a cheerleader in high school and straight a student. Jennifer powers felt drawn to her. She had this kind of bookworm side to her. She was very studious and goaloriented. I mean, she was also just a great person to be around, a fun, happy spirit. And, you know, someone i wanted to spend a lot of time with. Reporter lots of people did. And when she chose a college far from home, North Carolina state, she was soon surrounded again by an admiring group of women friends, best friends, buddies. Fiona childs was her sorority big sister. There is this one picture. It came out beautiful. We liked it. Because we felt like we kind of looked like charlies angels, posed, without intentionally doing that. Reporter it was sometime in 2001 when friends started hearing about michelles new guy, jason young, heard how he had grown up in the North Carolina mountains, how he loved to camp, how he was the life of tailgate parties. Michelle fell hard and fast. They seemed like a good couple. He was different from other men she had dated in the past. He wasnt as serious about a career as she was. He was a little bit less sophisticated than michelle was. But she seemed to be very happy with him. Reporter michelle and jason married in october, 2003. The day after the wedding they shared their big secret. Michelle was pregnant. Their daughter cassidy was born early the next year. Mwah i love you, mommy. I love you too, cassidy. Twinkle, twinkle reporter when she came along it was love at first sight. How i wonder what you are yea reporter michelle was an enthusiastic mother. Huh . Huh . Huh . Huh . By all accounts, jason was a good dad. He was a great playmate. He knew how to sit on the floor and play with his daughter, you know . Reporter the youngs moved into the big fine house on birchleaf in 2005. Both of them worked. He a salesman. She a financial specialist. In the summer of 2006, michelle got pregnant again. They kept the news to themselves, but it was clear something good was happening. The comment he said to me was hes excited to have another baby. Not implying she was pregnant. But he was excited at the prospect of it. But just a few months later, michelle was dead. Jason was 170 miles away in virginia on a business trip the night of the murder. He heard the news the next afternoon and returned to raleigh. Stacia grossman got word from her mother. My mother called and said michelle is dead. I said, michelle who . Some celebrity . Like what are you talking about . What do you mean, how is that possible . What happened . Reporter the very question that wake county investigators were asking themselves. 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Ill only use an oralb the 1 brand used by dentists worldwide. Oralb. Brush like a pro. Reporter the facts were stark and ugly. One night in november, 2006, while her husband was away on business, Michelle Young was attacked in her bedroom and brutally beaten to death. Her body discovered the next day by her sister meredith along with her 2 1 2yearold daughter cassidy, who had been left to wander in her blood. For the investigators who set out to find her killer, no way to get those little footprints out of their minds. Sergeant Richard Spivey, lead investigator. Those of us that work in law enforcement, this is our profession, but were also parents. That certainly strikes a different note with you when you see Something Like that. Michelles husband jason, a medical software salesman, was 170 miles away the night of the murder. Even so, investigators had to look at him. We know he was the last person to talk to michelle that night. And he was also the reason why she was found. He called Meredith Fisher to go to the house. Reporter jason youngs business trip that night was routine. Security tape showed him getting gas, 7 30 p. M. As he left raleigh. Two hours later seen on tape at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in greensboro. Later checked into the hampton inn in hillsdale, virginia. This is him front desk. 11 00 p. M. And him again at midnight. He also made a phone call around midnight. And that was the last time anybody heard from jason young until he made another call at 7 40 the next morning. A normal person would look at this and say he was 170 miles away. Hes got an alibi. That sounds like a great distance, you know . But 170 miles you can get between the crime scene and the hotel in about two and a half hours. Reporter perhaps. But there were curious anomalies at the crime scene. Couldnt explain them. A jewelry box was missing two drawers. So was it a bungled burglary . Then there were footprints near the body that seemed to eliminate jason. An obvious print on the pillow was a size 10. But jason wore a size 12. But this was weird. There was another partial footprint. It defied easy identification, so they began calling in shoe experts. And now they wondered were there two attackers . Of course, investigators discovered early on michelle and jasons marriage was strained. And in the last weeks of michelles life, things were not good. At our friend shelleys wedding he was so drunk. Just really out of it. When we got to the wedding, our friends were letting us know michelle and jason were fighting and they were referring to it as world war iii. Jennifer powers told investigators about another fight that october. Michelle wanted her mother to stay with them for the holidays. And jason, who had a tense and jason, who had a tense relationship with his motherinlaw, wanted to limit her stay. And said so in an email. Along with another nugget. He wrote, our marriage has seen better days, i dont see it trending up. I remember that really striking a chord with me. I didnt know that their marriage had seen better days. Reporter of course investigators wanted to interview jason young. Maybe he could tell them something. But he refused to talk to them. He talked to the lawyer. And then under the advice of counsel, he declined to speak with us at all. Reporter didnt ask . Didnt ask how his wife died . No. Reporter perhaps, investigators thought the business trip deserved a second look. They want to the hotel. Poked around and discovered some odd activities that night in a stairwell near an exit. There was a camera there unplugged. Really. Yes, one of the side exits for the hotel. One of the fire stairs that go down to the first floor. Reporter any other tampering done . The door that was adjacent to where the camera was located the door also had been propped open that night. How do you know that . The gentleman working as the clerk that night found a rock placed in the door to keep the door from closing. Well, then they plugged the camera back in, so its now working again. And at about 6 35 that morning suddenly that camera is pointing straight at the ceiling. Same camera . Same camera. Tampered with yet again. Reporter if that was jason youngs work, is it possible he did make the 340 round trip . Could he have killed his wife and cleaned up his daughter all in seven and a half hours . Without ever being seen . To find out, investigators played a hunch. They visited every gas station along the route. Showed jasons photo, tucked to the night clerks. And came across a woman named tracy doms in a tiny place called king, North Carolina. She took one look at the photograph and recognized it instantly. He was the foulmouthed customer she said who came into the store to complain that the pumps were locked. And what time was it . 5 30 a. M. , morning of the murder. There was actually an altercation between the two of them. So you have a reason why she would remember him as opposed to any other customer that may have just happened into the store. Reporter if that attendant was right, investigators may have undercut jasons alibi. Still, it wasnt enough. So they plodded ahead, painstaking work, took time. And then, years after the murder, they finally got a match for that partial footprint. The state bureau of investigation and the fbi were able to eventually identify that shoe as a hush puppy shoe, size 12, which was the same size that he wore. Reporter throughout the investigation, jason steadfastly maintained silence. Rather than face a legal battle where hed be asked some tough questions, spivey said, he even gave michelles family custody of his daughter. All of them talked about how much he loved cassidy. What a great dad he was. To just turn over primary custody, that was that was very surprising. Reporter investigators had heard enough. They believed they had a case. Circumstantial, but a case. And three years after Michelle Youngs body was found on the bedroom floor, jason young was charged with her murder. Investigators and prosecutors knew that very little pointed directly toward jason young, but so far nothing pointed away. Coming up, the case against jason young as an alleged killer and as a cheating husband. We had an intimate relationship for the two days he was there. We ended up having sex. He never settled down. When dateline continues. Jason young went on trial for the murder of his pregnant wife michelle in june 2011. By then, he had spent 18 months in a jail cell. The guy who lived for tailgates. The guy who loved to party, that guy was long gone. Prosecutor becky holt opened for the state. Defendant had a plan. His plan was to murder his wife. His plan was to get away with it. Reporter with no murder weapon found, the prosecutions case was built on that partial shoe print. They knew now that jason once owned a pair of hushpuppies like these that matched the print. They were now missing. They also told jurors about the Early Morning visit to the gas station and the suspicious activity at the hotel, but the thrust of their case was this. Jason young was trying in the most violent possible way to get out of a troubled marriage. Were you aware of tensions in that marriage . Yes. I was well aware. Reporter Meredith Fisher, michelles sister, lived near the couple. And for a period was cassidys nanny. As the youngs fights intensified, she took on the role of marriage counselor too. What would you say were the main issues . Michelles main issues were, jason being more responsible, understanding her more, and his main concern was their lack of sex life. Prosecutors called friends to the stand to paint a picture of a marriage that was unraveling out loud and in public. Jason made it very well known that, you know, he was upset about the lack of sex in the relationship. Reporter and at parties, said fiona childs, jasons x rated tricks were famously over the top. I never observed it myself. I would just hear about it. And you know, he would expose himself and do what he thought was these funny tricks. And i was always just rather embarrassed for michelle. He never settled down. It was as if he was still living the single life, that he never bought into the marriage. What that what all that meant. Reporter in october 2006, when michelle was four months pregnant, jason became deeply involved with another woman. And not just any woman. Michelle was one of Michelle Youngs Close Friends from college. One of those charlies angels. In early october, days before his third wedding anniversary, jason flew to florida to see michelle who testified they both knew it was wrong. We basically just hung out at the house and we had an intimate relationship for the two days that he was there. Reporter jason was crazy about her. His friend josh dalton said. He basically told me that he thought was in love with her. Reporter michelles mother, linda fisher, testified in the final weeks of her life. She could see the toll the failing marriage was taking on her pregnant daughter. She had her head on my lap. And she was lying down. And i was stroking her hair. And and she was empty. What did she tell you . Things werent working out with jason. Reporter two days before she was murdered, michelle phoned her sister meredith to report yet another blowup with jason. She was just, ive had it. She said, you know, more than one time, i just cant do this anymore. Reporter jason was telling one of his Close Friends the same thing. And prosecutors said just days before michelle was murdered, he had indulged in one last transgression. A casual hookup with an old friend named carol ann sauerby in his own living room. Michelle was away at the time. Cassidy was put down to bed. And i had a couple drinks. Just were talking. And we ended up having sex. Reporter but divorce was apparently not an option for jason. He had made a statement at one time he was afraid if he ever got a divorce that michelle would take cassidy and move back to new york. And did he indicate he would have concerns about seeing cassidy again . Correct. Reporter one question remained. Was a good time guy like jason young even capable of murder . Gentlem genevieve cargo was engaged to jason before he met michelle. She took the stand to testify about a fight over jasons excessive drinking. He became agitated and said something to the effect if i am going to make such a terrible husband, then give me my ring back. Did you give it to the defendant . No. He began trying to pull the ring off. It wouldnt come off. He was throwing me from one bed to the other and jumping on me with all his weight and pinning my arms, both of them, behind me. Reporter prosecutors hoped to convince the jury it all added up to motive for murder. So how would the defense counterattack . With a witness who could refute every charge. Coming up, jason young finally breaks his silence as he takes the stand to testify. Did you kill your wife, michelle . No, sir. Were you there when it happened . No, sir. Better than a manual, and my hygienist says it does. But. Theyre not all the same. Turn